


There Might Be A Little Time To Explain

by orphan_account



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Fluff, High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2063886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ross is a new student, who will become his friend?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We're Friends Right?

**Author's Note:**

> ((Super fluffy. This was the second fic I wrote.))

The air was heavy on Thursday, and Danny chomped down on a few skittles as the group chatted mindlesly. Barry was sitting next to him on his right, and he was laughing over some stupid joke Arin told, probably about a videogame. Brian, Danny's friend who was basically a brother, was scribbling away in a note book. Complicated numbers and drawings danced on the page, and Dan knew he would never understand it. Arin was carelessly sprawled on the other side of the table, his arm loosely rested on his girlfriend Suzy's shoulder. The two of them had been together for what seemed like forever. They had met in elementary school, and Danny was pretty sure they were a goddamn romance novel, like they were going to have two and a half children, a dog, and two cars. Danny sighed at their strange group.

They had all been leftovers in school, Suzy and Arin being disgustingly adorable, Barry a classic tech nerd, Brian did something with theoretical physics and math almost no one else could understand, and Danny. Danny smoked weed and cigarets, and looked a bit like a classic stoner, his hair wild. He was a music junkie and got high off of pot and life. But, he wasn't stupid either.

He had gotten straight bs in school, though he didn't care, and would graduate school with extra credits. He looked at his pack of skittles, the bottom of the bag almost visible and began to think about songs and lyrics. His mind moved quickly making strange connections and he began to think about the universe and how crazy it is that anyone could ever fall in love with soomeone when there manny people on the planet and obstacles in ones way.

"Dude, I don't think those skittles have the answer to life." Arin barked at dan jokingly. Danny only replied with a scoff before he tilted the bag of skittles, downing them in one last crunch. Suzy and Arin had already left the table when he began to get up and throw out his meager lunch. Sometimes he would get the school lunches, but otherwise he just seemed to live off of skittles and Pepsi.

Danny had a free block next, because he didn't need anymore credits, and decided he would go to his favorite spot for a while. Past the metal bleachers from hell,that are never a good temperature, along the far length of the football field there was a gentle sputtering of trees. Danny had made himself a little hovel in one of the clusters of trees, and he would just sit there whenever he needed to think or take time to relax. He sat down on one of the many tattered blankets he had managed to scrounge up and bring to the spot over time, and lit a cigarette, he wasn't stupid enough to be anywhere near school high. He sighed blowing a puff of smoke out, and it hung there in the air for a while before dissipating.

"Maybe, there's something different in the air, a change." He commented on how the smoke seemed to last longer than usual. He laughed at how much of a stoner hippie he sounded like when he said that, believing none of it and shaking his head. But he still held a little bit if hope that something new and fun would happen.

\---------

Ross O'donovan came from Australia, and looked so childish. He signed in at the front office and took the first half of the day to go on a tour. After eating lunch with some of his new teachers he was allowed to see his first class. He walked into the art room, paint was all over the floors and walls, as well as students art work precariously hung up. He was first to the class, lunch not being quite over, so he sat down at a table in the back and pulled out his drawing notebook. Slowly students trickled into the classroom, the art teacher had said that there were only a handful of students in class, as it was advanced.

Out of the corner of his eye Ross saw a couple with matching blond streaks kissing in front of the class room and he wasn't sure how to feel about the PDA so he just pressed his head into the table his drawings skattered about him.One half of the power couple walked into the room and sat down next to the flustered Ross.

"Cool drawing," The guy said pointing at one of Ross' Grimlock doodles. Ross lifted his head and looked at which he was pointing at.

"Thanks" Ross mumbled quietly.

"Name's Arin" Arin said smacking Ross on the back lightly. "Nice to meet you, welcome to art."

"I'm Ross O'donovan." Ross said a little bit louder than his mumble, happy that Arin hadn't left imideately. "I'm from Australia."

"Whoa that's pretty cool." Arin nodded his head and then laughed. "I can kind of hear it in how you talk, but not quite."

"Well my parents are from Ireland, so I guess I have an international accent." He laughed and sighed, he hopped that Arin would be his friend. The two talked through art showing each other their art, and bonding over a love of video games. Ross truly felt like he sealed the friendship when he took his pencil and drew a rough sketch of a penis on the table, topped off with pretty adorable smiley face on the head. Arin nearly killed himself laughing smacking Ross in the shoulder and telling him that he would have to have lunch with his group.

*** When Ross got home his mother asked how his day went and he gave her a retelling of the day excluding Arin, he still wasn't sure if they were friends.

\---------

Danny saw a new person in his first class of the morning, but he had come in late, so he missed the introductions. He knew this class was going to be a lecture so he focused on what he could learn about the new body. ' _He is sitting a little to ridged_ ' Dan thought. ' _So he's probably nervous. A pack of artist pencils are stick out of his bag, so he draws_.' Danny picked little things, like the Grimlock sticker on one of the notebooks that were peaking out, or that he bounced his leg up and down nervously. He continued until the new guy turned around ever so slightly and Dan saw his rounded cheeks, a light rose color, and big blue doe eyes and was awestruck. This guy had the biggest, most gentle eyes ever, with big eyelashes framing them. Danny shook his head and sighed lightly. He definitely needed to think, why was this kind leaving him so struck. Luckily he didn't have his next period before lunch with this new guy, so he buried himself into work.

***

Dan slumped his bag onto the ground next to the usual table and hooked his legs over the bench. Barry, Brian and Suzy were already seated eating the so called school lunch. However one half of the power couple was no where to be seen.

"Where's Arin at, usually you can't separate you two for anything." Danny said in between bites of the lunch. He was pretty sure he was in a bad tv show, he swore the food moved on its own.

"He said he was bringing a new friend to meet us." Suzy replied taking bites of food and looking down at her phone, Dan shrugged, he didn't care that much, Arin was the one that had brought the group together after all, so his judgement wasn't in question. He began picking at his lunch until he noticed Suzy waving, meaning Arin had returned, so he turned his head to meet the new friend and was struck. There were those big blue eyes staring nervously at the table group. Dan nearly pushed Brian off the bench making room for this new guy. Brian gave him a look of 'the fuck was that for dude' but Danny just waved him away.

"Everyone, this is Ross O'donovan. He comes from Australia, has a mixed accent, and can draw one hell of dick." Arin laughed slapping Ross on the back again recalling the great dick Ross had drawn. Ross waved nervously, continuing way past the normal amount of time until Arin pushed him into the seat Dan had made.

"Hey." Dan barely whispered at him.

"Hi... I'm Ross O'donovan..." Ross smacked himself mentally, he was just introduced, and dan could see the anger Ross felt at himself.

"Nice to meet you, Ross O'donovan." Dan flashed a smile and for some strange reason Ross felt like he might melt. The two chatted idly and found that they shared the next class on music. Ross would carelessly mention things about Australia and Danny seemed to be completely enthrawled which was new for Ross. In turn Ross would listen to Dan's stories about life and music. Ross couldn't pull himself away from just staring intently at dan with his big blue eyes, and Danny couldn't stop looking at them so there they sat staring at each other utterly silent.

"Are you guys gonna kiss or what." Brian's harsh voice snapped Dan out of the strange trance and he shook his head shoving Brian over. Ross' face had turned a deep rose colour and forced him to turn to Barry, who was utterly quiet, and then he just faced the table desperately waiting for lunch to be over.

***

The class was pretty funny for Danny. Watching Ross fumble around with timing and key was fairly hilarious. Ross would occasionally shoot Dan an angry look as he tried to figure out what was going on, but this just instilled more laughter from Dan.

"Oh, fuck me, I hate this. I'm so bad with rythym." Ross groaned hitting his head on the table.

"Nah dude, it's not easy for everyone." Danny patted Ross on the back. The two had seemed to find a pace with each other quickly and Dan was pretty glad Arin was so social for once. "Hey, so we always have a gaming session at Arin's on Friday nights, you wana come?" Ross nodded immediately his lips curled up in a big smile. His hair flayed a bout his head still nodding vigorously making dan grab his head and laugh stopping him from getting whiplash or something. "Cool," Dan fished around in his back pack and pulled out one of his many note books filled with music. He flipped to the very last page and handed it to Ross. "Write your address and phone number and I'll pick you up tonight. Probably around like six or something." He waved his hand casually while Ross wrote down his new home address and cell phone number.

\------

When Ross arrived at home his mother asked again about his day. He told her about his classes and then said quietly "I think I made a friend." His mother smiled at him. "I was invited to go play games tonight." He mumbled out quickly before running upstairs to get ready leaving his mother to wonder about the new friend and the kind of life they lived. For some reason, Ross felt very nervous and went through a bunch of his tshirts trying to pick one out that looked ok but also was funny and probably game related. He found himself sitting in the middle of a pile of tshirts and still hadn't chosen one. Finally he decided to just wear a light blue button up over one of his many videogame tshirts. Just in time he had put his shirts on to hear a little bing from his phone.

' _Hey, I'm outside'_ read a text, and Ross knew who it was imideately. Before he could even type out one letter he hear another bing. ' _Oh, it's Dan, from lunch and math_.' Ross laughed a little and replied with the fact that he would be right out. He nearly toppled over his newly erected pile of shirts before running down the stairs two steps at a time.

"Are you leaving now?" His mother asked. "Have fun, and call me if you need anything."

"Thanks mom" Ross called as he burst out the door. He stopped just in time before hitting the old beaten up car before him. There were scratches and paint chips everywhere. All the windows were rolled down, and Dan was bobbing his head to one of the songs playing. Danny had rolled the windows down so that Ross wouldn't smell all the mix of smoke in his car, which only seemed to work a little. Ross knocked on the car door and smiled.

"You sure this car is safe?" He laughed before sliding into the passenger seat. Ross coughed out a little, and Danny could tell from his small, thin build that he wasn't the healthiest kid and Dan felt bad for only having his smoke lined car. Danny could get a better look at Ross now and he studied him for a moment. When ross had entered a strange new smell had arose mixing with the smoke. Danny wasn't displeased or upset, it was kind of pleasant. The smell was a mix of some sort of flower and something kind of lightly musty, what Danny assumed to be Ross, and he admitted he could get used to smelling that all the time.

Ross had a light blue button up on, though it wasn't buttoned, and the selves were rolled up to his elbows, A dark chalky mark was on the pale skin of his arm, and Danny could tell it was unbelievable amounts of graphite from drawing. His legs were kind of lanky, but he was all together pretty small.

After observing him in general Danny finally looked at his face. There were those big blue doe eyes surrounded by fluttery eye lashes. His big cheeks seemed to always be painted in at least a light pink, and he absent mindedly nawed at his lower lip. He didn't have any real facial hair to be seen, and Danny somehow aquatinted him to those Asian women who could be anywhere from age 16-45.

Ross took the moment to look at Dan, he had been so absorbed by all of the happenings that he really hadn't gotten to look at him. Dan had a sort of rough chin, and stubble was definitely growing in. His eyes were gentle, and seemed to always be half closed in content. His right eyebrow had a little bit of a scar, and Ross wondered how he got that. His hair was wild, and almost looked like an untamed monster. He was lanky, and looked almost cramped in the drivers seat. He had a pair of ragged jeans on, and a green over coat with what seemed like a mysterious amount of pockets and patches. His whole car smelt of smoke, and Ross resisted the urge to cough anymore than once. He assumed Dan probably smelt like it a bit as well, and Ross thought he could get used to it. A few minuets went by before Danny broke the silent observation from both parties.

"You ready to go?" Ross nodded nervously as Dan turned the car on.


	2. Super Confused

Danny tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove Ross and himself to Arin's home. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times before he finally settled on telling Ross about the group, as he didn't recall any real introductions.

"So you met Arin in art, and I'm in your music class or whatever, but there were others in the group too. In the glove compartment there," Dan pointed with a gentle nod of his head in the general direction, "there is a picture of us all. On the farthest right is Barry, he's a chill dude, though somehow he beats everyone at video games." Danny scoffed and let out a small chuckle. "After that is the disgusting couple, Suzy and Arin. Suzy is pretty cool, she really likes bugs for some reason. Then there's me, and Brian. Brian doesn't fit in our group in the same way, but we write a lot of music together, it just so happens that he's like super amazing at theoretical physics and math and stuff. I've known him for a super long time, and he can come off gruff but he isn't that harsh."

Ross smiled at the photo and thought that it was pretty sweet Dan kept one of his group. He examined it closely and looked at how happy they all were, he couldn't help wondering if he was an unwanted extra in their so well established group, but he pushed that thought away. Ross was going to enjoy this night, even if it was the only time he could have such a nice group of people around him. Danny looked over at Ross who was nervously chewing his lip again, so he punched him lightly on the arm.

"Come on man, everyone already seems pretty interested in you." Danny patted the spot Ross was playfully nursing. He laughed as they slowly pulled into a driveway. "Alright this is it." the house itself wasn't too intimidating, it was a fair size but not too big either. The outside was a simple light grey colour, and there was a simple bay window on one side of the house. Ross gulped and closed the door on the car, no turning back now. He pushed his hand through his hair and shook his head, he had no idea what to expect.

He followed Dan to the door of the house and contemplated how long it would take for him to find his way back home from here. He slumped his shoulders knowing he would be lost imideately. He followed Danny, almost following his exact steps like a baby duck, until Danny just went right through the door. Ross stopped before the door, he took a deep breath and stepped into the door frame. He paused looking at the top of the frame, feeling fairly out of place before he sucked in another breath and walked into the house. He could vaguely hear laughter coming from one of the rooms.

"Over here," Danny waved at Ross before disappearing into a room. Ross followed and went into the large living room. Arin, Suzy and Barry were sitting eyes focused on the tv screen infront of them. Danny plopped himself down in the small couch causing a groan from Arin and Barry.

"Hey Ross." Arin said lightly before screaming loudly at Barry. "Dammit man, you always win somehow!" He began to laugh and hit Barry lightly. "Damn dude."

Ross stood there on the doorway looking kind of stupid before Dan yelled at him to sit on the floor. Dan handed him the fourth controller saying something about trading off because there were only four, and there were five people. Ross and Danny were the two that switched off every round, not that it mattered much with Barry winning most of the time. Ross found himself slowly becoming comfortable with the group and started to laugh louder and smile with them. The played games and the night kept getting later and later until Barry finally said he had to leave.

"Guess we should head out too, so Barry can get out of the drive way." Danny said ruffling Ross' hair lightly, feeling that the friendly gesture would be alright. Ross nodded lightly and smiled.

"I've had a really great time. I didn't think I would be hanging out with friends this soon." He laughed hoping they would take it jokingly, but Dan just looked at him and shook his head lightly. Once Ross and Dan had gotten back to Dan's car he started the music up again.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked Ross as he laughed watching Ross try to bob his head at the right time to the music. Ross nodded trying to focus on getting the beat, but to no avail. Danny just laughed louder before he started the car up and backed out of the driveway.

"It's pretty strange, driving on the other side of the road." Ross whispered as he looked out the window at the stars. "Back home you could see so many stars, I would get so nervous. There aren't so many here, so I can kind of appreciate how pretty they are." Ross' little ramblings about Australia made Dan's heart melt a little, and he thought he could listen to them forever.

"I always wondered what it was like here, but i didn't realize how fast I could make friends. I wasn't very popular in Austalia but I'm happy I've met you all so quickly. Really I'm glad." Danny watched Ross close his eyes, and he felt a strange urge to do something. He didn't know if he wanted to pat his shoulder, or maybe hug him, or, what, did he really feel like kissing Ross. Dan shook his head and thought he must just be feeling really tired. Ross had gone quiet so he decided to contemplate something else, but no matter what he started thinking about Ross' shining blue eyes and the way he looked so content being friends with the silly ragtag group.

Somehow Danny found he already had Ross' home memorized and he got there without his gps this time. Ross got out of the car but before he closed the door he smiled at Dan. He noticed how comforting Danny had been for the whole night, and he lingered at the door for a moment his mouth open slightly. Finally he tore his gaze away from the ragged hair of Dan and he waved saying thanks and good night and heading into his home.

"I'm home" Ross said hurriedly and ran up the stairs to his room and landed on his pile of shirts. He looked up at his ceiling feeling a little dizzy and thought about Dan's face and hair and the smell of his car, it still lingered ever so slightly on Ross' shirt. He fell asleep in the pile of clothes, the image of Dan's gentle smile lingering in his mind.

After Ross had left his car Danny pulled out a joint from one of his many mysterious pockets and tried to clear his head. Ross' big blue doe eyes were burned on Danny's eye lids, and no matter how much he shook his head they wouldn't go away, the dopey happy look they had to them. He pulled out his phone from a pocket and started a text to Brian.

' _Lets work on some music tommorow_ ' he sent and then proceeded to type to Arin. ' _Dude, I have a huge question for you so we should talk. But like, not text. I think I actually need to talk with you_.' After hitting send Danny felt kind of stupid and drove home. The whole ride he only played the music on the 5 volume level and thought about the strange urge he had had to kiss Ross. God he barely even knew this kid, maybe he was just needing a girlfriend and he just attached to the first somewhat feminine thing he found. Or maybe he was just too tired and too high to know what was going on. He walked up to his room quickly and threw himself on his large bed before passing out, his brain hurting from trying to understand what was going on. It was the worst sleep he'd ever gotten.

***

"Dude what's wrong." Brain asked gruffly. "You've never been this bad at trying to write music with me, you were the one to ask for this session man." Brain looked a bit peeved, but also concerned for his friend. The last time Dan had been so out of it he had been completely rejected by a girl.

"Nothing man, I just, I've just been thinking a bit." Danny's sorry excuse didn't fool Brian, so Brian hit his shoulder before they got back to writing music. They tried for a few hours but nothing good came out of it, and Danny left Brian's still thinking about Ross. Dan heard a light ding from his phone. He checked it hitting the buttons and turning the car off.

' _Whats up dude_?' It was Arin texting him back from his crisis the night prior. ' _Are you having a like existential crisis. Why don't you come over now, and we can chat_.' Dan could feel the slight joking Arin had behind his texts, and could hear him snicker. Dan replied that he'd be there in a few and the drove out of Brian's driveway. Dan played his music at a volume of 11 and beat his fingers nervously on the wheel as he drove to Arin's. He parked and took a few moments before sprinting through the doors so he couldn't back down. He closed the door and then sucked his breath in slowly walking to the living room, his ratty sneakers making light squeaks.

"Sup" Arin said waving his hand carelessly in the direction of Dan, fully absorbed in a handheld game. When he looked up he saw how ragged Dan looked. His hair was more crazy than usual, one side half pressed down from being slept on. His eyes had slight bags under them and they were a light red around the edges. "Whoa, you look like shit."

"Thanks" Dan said flatly before sitting on the couch. He ran his hand through the jungle of his hair and sighed.

"Alright tell Papa Arin what happened." Arin said laughs sliding out through his teeth. Humor usually calmed Dan down. "Did you see other boys dicks in the locker room and feel inadequate?" Arin let out a heart laugh at that. "Or did you have a gay freak out." Danny actually hit Arin's shoulder when he said that, no joking, anger coming from him.

"Wait, you're serious, dude. Sorry, I just was trying to ease your tension."

"No, I know I know." Danny whispered before his head fell against Arin's shoulder. "I'm just not sure how I feel right now." "Is itour new friend, that Ross kid?" God, somehow Arin always knew just how to pin him. Dan nodded into Arin's shoulder, and he groaned a bit.

"Dude, you have to figure this out one way or another. And, I totally support you no matter what, but man I can't figure this out for you." Danny let out an annoyed groan and proceeded to sigh. "You wana play a game?" Dan nodded, but was shit at all of the games they tried to play. The sun had gone down long before Danny had finally decided to leave, with resolve to talk to Ross the next day.

Before he could wimp out he sent a text with Arin next to him, asking Ross to hang at his place. Ross had replied and Dan would be picking him up the next day. Arin patted Dan's back and smiled at him. Dan walked out to his car and lit a cigarette. He drove home his music back at 5. He hummed around the almost finished cigarette as he drove trying to distract himself. He put it out and tossed it out the window. He hadn't headed home yet, and had been going around areas of the city he hadn't seen before. How did this feeling well up so fast? Dan contemplated. He had never felt quite like this when he had liked girls before, maybe it wasn't the same thing. But fuck it, what was this? It all happened so quickly, but he couldn't deny how easily Ross fit into the group dynamic, and how quickly he had been able to fall into place and feel so right when he was near Dan. Finally Dan got home and he hit his head against the steering wheel before he got out and went inside throwing himself into his bed falling into a heavy sleep quickly.

\-------

Ross woke up much later than usual and his mind went to the night before. He had had a great time with everyone, all the games were fun and there were a ton of laughs. He smiled at the memory, a picture he kept in his head, he scanned it and smiled until he landed on Dan. He shook his head and got off of the shirt pile he had passed out on. Ross pulled his shirt off to prepare for a shower. He looked down at it, and debated for some time on what to do with it. Finally in one brief swift motion he brought it up to his nose and inhaled lightly. The smell Dan's car had was almost completely gone, and Ross sighed unsure of what he was expecting, or why he even did that. He threw his shirt across the room to a pile of dirty clothes and went to take a shower.

After the shower, hoping he had cleared his mind, Ross picked up his shirts and then sat down at his computer starting up his drawing software and positioning his hand near his tablet, pen in hand. He wanted to work on animating and he got a bit done for an hour. Ross stretched his arms up and he opened up a new page so he could just mess around and make designs. He doodled silly things, and characters he might want to use later. His hand began to ache a bit but Ross kept in drawing.

As he drew squiggles around he found himself beging to sketch out Dan's eyebrows. He drew each hair individually and faded them out. He was so concentrated time ticked away and he didn't notice. Each hair made Ross think about what he wanted to know about Danny, and all of the time he would like to hang out. He made a gentle yet stark line for the scar Dan had in his eyebrow. Slowly Ross perfected each line of the eyebrows, somehow feeling it was absolutely nessisary in the moment. When he had finished Ross pushed his chair back to see his work. He sucked his breath in, and wondered why Danny hindered him so much.

Ross had never dated anyone, and hadn't even had a simple crush. He wasn't sure what having one on someone felt like, and he wondered if this was it. His stomach turned and he fet his cheeks get red. He slammed his head down on his desk after saving and closing his art.

"What is going on" he groaned to himself. Ross swiveled and grabbed a pair of headphones so he could block out the world. He plugged into his computer and started some music. For a while he just let his head rest on the desk, allowing himself to try and relax. As the music went on Ross soon found himself trying desperately to get the beat right, knowing he was exceedingly off.

After a few hours of trying to distract himself he felt the vibration of his cellphone from his jeans pocket. He pulled his phone out and saw a new message from Dan. ' _Lets chill tommorow at my place. I'll pick you up_.' It said simply, and yet Ross' heart skipped a beat. Ross replied imideately telling Dan that he would be ready anytime after 12. He received a simple ' _ok_ ' and Ross felt nervous for some reason. He felt so nervous he might throw up or his stomach might just crawl right out of his mouth. He groaned slamming his head down on his desk before crawling into bed and trying to sleep without thinking of Dan's crazy hair, and his scarred eyebrow.


	3. Like A Puzzle

Dan woke up at the crack of dawn, which was highly unusual. He turned towards the window horizontal to his bed seeing the barely rising sun and groaned. He threw his head back on his pillow missing the safety of his deep sleep, but unable to call it back. Slowly he started to move his fingers and then his arms moving his way around his body until he felt like he could actually get up. He tossed his legs over the edge of the bed, his toes grazing the floor as he turned his body to a sitting position. He rubbed the crust from his eyes and stood up. He ran his hand through his wild hair and shook it out quickly before padding down to the bathroom and running the shower.

As Dan woke up with the warm water he began to play through his day. He had a few hours before he would get Ross, and his stomach turned in nervousness. Dammit, Danny didn't know what he was going to say to Ross. Maybe he was rushing this feeling, or like maybe it wasn't even real. Dan knew he was joking himself with that one, the increased rate of his heart beats as he stopped the water told him otherwise. He didn't bother with his hair and just shook it out before drying off a bit and padding back to his room, towel around his waist.

Dan sat down on his bed and cradled his head in his hands. Okay, he had a few hours to think about how to convince Ross he wasn't crazy, and maybe he could take this whole thing slowly from there and they could like try to go on a few dates and see how it played out. But he needed to do something, and Arin would totally be disappointed and angry if he didn't just talk to Ross. Dan racked his brain tugging at his hair lightly. Finally he decided he would just let it happen. By this time it was only eight in the morning, and Dan didn't know what he would do to distract him before he picked Ross up to hang out. He pulled one of his grey tshirts out of his messy drawers and a pair of dark blue jeans with holes all over, he'd have to see if Suzy would sew anything up for him again, though she had probably sewn a million holes in his pants.

After getting dressed Dan decided he should probably clean up his basement a bit. Dan had somehow been able to own his own little shack of a home, but it was his and no one could bother him too much. There were only two floors, the basement and the ground floor, but that's all he needed. The ground floor had a bathroom, his bedroom, a small living-dining room, and small kitchen. The basement was where Dan would hang out with friends, sometimes Brian would hang and do music there, other times the whole group tried to fit into the room on one couch, and sometimes he would just relax and smoke a little by himself.

He'd try and write some music or just play a videogame badly. By this time Dan had realised how badly he had left the place. There were cigarette ends everywhere, and the place almost felt like it was still in a fog from his last solo time smoking a butt load of pot. There were articles of Dan's ratty ass clothing and old trash everywhere. Dan sighed and chastised himself for not being tidier.

As the room began to look presentable dan sat on the floor. He pulled a joint from a secret stash he had hidden in a small dip in the floor. He sat back against the couch and started to try and relax a little. He didn't want to be too high when he grabbed Ross, but he was so stressed that he couldn't help himself. As he relaxed he started to wonder about Ross. Why did this socially unprepared kid find himself hanging out with their group, and Danny of all people. Ross seemed pretty bright, and like he had never gotten in trouble in his life. He was a classic textbook nerd, while Danny just drew trouble to himself. Danny sighed before snuffing the joint and tossing it somewhere on the concrete of the room. He turned the tv on and decided to watch some before he picked the stupid Australian up.

\-------

Ross woke up far earlier than his alarm was set, at 11. He had just laid in bed butterflies dancing in his stomach. He was hanging out with Dan on his own,and Ross felt more flustered than when he hung out with the whole group. He tapped his fingers on his sheets as he stared out the window in his room. He watched birds fly by and the clouds float so gently, no cares in the world and wished he could join them, but he logic-ed himself out of that whispering about how cold clouds really are, and how he would fall right through them.

For a while Ross just had a stupid empty mind, and he just stared at the sky that was so familiar but so different from the one back home in Australia. Finally his alarm clock decided to start ringing and Ross slowly sat up in bed. He cracked his neck before sliding out of his oh so comfortable bed and walking down the hall to the shower. He was quick and poped in and out fast enough that he didn't have to think about much more than washing himself. The only moment he did end up thinking of something else his mind brought up Dan and his stupid amazing face and Ross nearly hit his head on the shower walls.

Stepping out he darted to his room to pick out dumb clothes to wear. Somehow he felt like this hang out with Dan was special, or maybe he was just being weird and twisting things, but why, did he like Dan. Ross shook his head before choosing one of his favorite tshirts, a light grey one that had Grimlock on the front, and then threw a one of his many blue button ups over it. Ross had a large ammount of blue button ups, his closet almost looked like a cartoon character's with the same shirt over and over again.

Otherwise he had a dark blue suit hung up neatly in a nice dress bag, and his old Australian school uniforms. He fiddled with his sleeves finally deciding on rolling them up to his elbows. It was just 12, and he didn't expect Danny to come quickly as he had said he would be ready after then. So Ross went down stairs and mumbled a good morning to his mother and grabbing one of the larger glasses in the cabinets. He pulled the milk from the shelf in the fridge and poured a large glass for himself. After he put it back he gulped down the large ammount of milk. Ross sat down after putting his cup in the dishwasher and told his mom he was hanging out with his friends again. He wasn't sure how she would react if he told her it was just one of them, and he didn't care to deal with too many questions yet.

\---------

Danny was outside of Ross' home and he turned the music in his car to 5 and started to smoke a cigarette. He leaned back in the driver's seat and started to try and build up courage to tell Ross he was ready to go. After a few minuets of nervous starting a text and then deleting it Dan put his cigarette out and then rolled the windows down. He texted Ross a simple ' _I'm her_ e' and sucked in his breath as he pressed send.

Ross had been looking at his phone list fully and when Dan texted him he nearly jumped through the house into the sky. He barely uttered a good bye to his mother before he had reached Dan's junky car.

"Hey," Dan said smiling at Ross nervously through the car window. Ross opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. He held back the cough that his lungs desperately wanted to let out, he decided he would deal with the smoke if it ment that he could hang out with Dan, who just seemed so cool and different to Ross. Dan quickly texted Arin saying he was doing it and then pocketed his phone.

"Hey Dan." Ross said, he smiled largely and chewed his bottom lip nervously. Dan sighed and turned the music in his car to 5 before he started to drive to his house. "What's your home like?" Ross asked looking at Dan with curiosity.

"Oh man, it's nothing special. It's just like one floor and a dank basement, but I mean I like it. It's mine, I get to call it my own." Dan said waving his hand as though he was brushing away the question. "That's pretty cool." Ross said playing with his shirt. He sighed and looked out the open window and then began to roll it up. The wind was dissipating the smells that were feintly ingrained in the car forever.

"You don't need to keep your windows rolled down all the time." Ross said quietly as he traced his fingers on the edges of the car door. Dan sucked in a breath and imideately pulled over stopping the car quickly and frightening Ross a bit. "Are you alright?" Ross questioned turning to Dan. And Dan could only look into Ross' stupid big blue doe eyes before he gently grabbed Ross' face and held him there for a moment.

Dan looked at Ross and just took in what he looked like on this day, he felt a tugging in his heart that told him he might do something he would regret later, and maybe Ross would never want to see him afterword so Dan worked so hard to take a mental snapshot of what Ross looked like.

Ross' eyes were big and a little bewildered and confused. He was biting his lower lip and his cheeks were flushed a deep red from the close contact. He was wearing another, or maybe the same, blue button up shirt over a dorky little Grimlock tshirt. Ross was shaking like a leaf in Dan's hands and god Dan thought he could die happy if he just kissed him.

Dan finally let out the breath he had been holding and stared at Ross' stark blue eyes, the world melting away from him. And suddenly, much to both of their surprise, Dan planted his lips against Ross'. At first the kiss was kind of sloppy, both confused and a little nervous, with teeth against teeth and accidental bleeding lips, but slowly they worked into it.

Ross was sweet, and he tasted like what Dan imagined was what kindness and beauty tasted like, and Dan thought he could become addicted to it. Ross tasted the hint of cigarettes and weed on Dan's breath, but there was a warmth and the taste of summer there too. Dan moved his hands to embrace Ross, because now that he'd done this he didn't know if he could ever let go, and Ross shivered in his arms, and Ross' arms just kind of hung at his sides because he was still surprised and kind of nervous, and just an awkward kid.

He wasn't stopping the kiss, or pushing away, so Dan hopped that all was alright, and he even had to be the one to break the kiss remembering that they both needed to breath. When Ross was released he could still feel the warmth of Dan's lips against his, and he just sat there kind of dumbfounded. His small fingers touched his own lips and he tasted the smallest hint of blood in his mouth, but he wasn't upset either. Danny smacked his head back against his seat and groaned.

"Oh my god." He groaned into his hands and then bent forward. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I just, I've had this weird feeling, and I've been so confused by you since I saw your stupid blue eyes infront of me in our first class, and then suddenly Arin had brought you to our group, and god I don't know. I've just felt so weird for you, and I think I'm in love with you, but I don't know how that can happen so quickly." As Dan rambled he finally turned back to Ross and looked at those stupid blue eyes me kind of blamed for starting this, because how could he resist such beautiful blue eyes, with big lashes that looked at him. "Oh god I've ruined things haven't I. I didn't know what I was going to do, i thought we would just talk and figure things out today when you ca-"

Dan was imideately cut off by Ross taking his small hands and holding Dan's face to look at him and planting a firm kiss in Dan's lips. When they finally broke apart for the second time Ross grabbed one of Dan's hands and smiled at him. "I'm glad I'm not the only one." He whispered gently resting his head on Dan's shoulder. There they sat for a while, just happy to know they were with each other.

***

Ross and Danny walked up to the group on Monday morning holding hands and being disgustingly cute. After the two had figured out their feelings they had spent their time at Dan's playing video games, kissing, cuddling and just being near each other.

They were still clunky and awkward together, as new couples often are, and sometimes Ross would trip over Dan's feet, or Dan would accidentally hit himself in the face trying to kiss Ross' hand. But now that they both knew everything would be alright they both were happy to take their time and learn each other's rythym. Soon enough they would know each other better than themselves.

The group was supportive, if a little silly about it. Giving stupid congratulations and pats on the back for Dan, and joking pinches to Ross' cheeks like aunts and uncles when someone got engaged. The two sat down together, their hands never leaving the locked tangle they were in and Arin made a fake gagging noise, which both found to be rich because that's how everyone felt about him and Suzy.

"I told you you just had to kiss." Brian's gruff voice came through the laughter and Dan shoved him lightly.

"Shut up." Dan said before kissing Ross' cheek causing his pink cheeks to flush even deeper, and his stupid blue doe eyes to sparkle.


End file.
